


Remembering the End of an Era: Collected Media from the End of the Hundred Year's War

by Havendance



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: (i guess?, Fake Book excerpts, Fake Interviews, Gen, Minor Sokka/Yue, Modern AU, Multimedia Fic, POV Outsider, astronaut!Sokka, but one where the plot's basically the same, everything's still only made up of words), fake articles, fake videos and photos
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-21
Updated: 2020-10-07
Packaged: 2021-03-08 01:01:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,425
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26587048
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Havendance/pseuds/Havendance
Summary: Various media concerning the last few years of the war, containing but not limited to:- The widely watched video of the then Prince Zuko's first Agni Kai- Pictures of the girl who turned into the moon- An analysis on the identity and influence of the Blue Spirit
Comments: 24
Kudos: 161





	1. The Banished Prince

**Author's Note:**

> Shout out to my Mom for beta reading this.

**Exhibit 1: Footage of the then Prince Zuko’s first Agni Kai**

The camera shakes wildly showing flashes of marble floors, blue skies, and the formal red uniforms of military officers and state officials. It finally settles in a vertical position, still shaky, looking out on the center of a courtyard where a fire sage stands. His voice is indistinct but he’s making the formal invocation to Agni. He makes a concluding gesture and walks off.

The camera pans to the left and zooms in on a kneeling figure of a boy. 

[Girl (offscreen)]: “That’s the crown prince.”

The camera pans over to the right where a man is just walking over and taking his own position opposite. 

[Girl]: “And that’s his opponent. Wait, is that the Fire Lord?”   


[Man (offscreen)]: “Quiet!”

[Girl]: “Yes, Father.”

There is the crashing sound of a gong. The camera stays fixed on the Fire Lord as he rises, the fabric on his shoulders falling to the ground. The camera quickly pans back the prince and zooms in on him. The frame is shaking, but the prince’s distressed face is still clearly visible. He quickly kneels.

[Prince Zuko]: “Please, Father. I only had the Fire Nation's best interest at heart. I'm sorry I spoke out of turn!”

[Fire Lord Ozain (offscreen)]: “You will fight for your honor.”

[Girl]: “What’s going on?”

[Man]: “Quiet!”

The camera rapidly darts back and forth between the prince and the Fire Lord as the Fire Lord slowly walks closer and closer, the result being that not much at all can be made out visually. The crown prince’s begging is still audible, though.

[Prince Zuko]: “Father, I meant no disrespect. I am your loyal son.”

The camera finally settles, though still shakily, as the Fire Lord stands over his son.

[Fire Lord]: “You will learn respect and suffering will be your teacher.”

The Fire Lord reaches out for his son’s face. It rests there for a second and then becomes wreathed in flames.

[Prince Zuko]: [Screams]

The camera shakes even more drastically, still focused on the prince and Fire Lord for a second before panning toward the ground. 

[Girl]: (barely audible over screams) “Oh, Agni, no.”

The screams suddenly cut off as the video abruptly ends.

* * *

**Exhibit 2: Excerpt from _Agni Kai: The History of the Duel_ by Kuzon Seto**

There were few Agni Kais of any note during the majority of the Hundred Year’s War, largely because the tradition of the Agni Kai and it’s violent history went directly against the image of a civilizing force Fire Lords Sozin and Azulon worked to project. It survived in its most traditional form in the rural parts of the Fire Nation where a handful of duels were recorded every year by the local Fire Sages. Most of them were fights between young men over matters of personal honor with an official veneer. Among the nobility, the tradition continued mainly as a way of exhibiting Firebending prowess. In his younger days, Fire Lord Azulon fought many of these duels, all of which were cleanly organized affairs with few injuries of any sort recorded. Thus, when the young Prince Zuko was challenged to Agni Kai in the traditional vein, it was an event out of the ordinary.

On the day of the duel, everyone who was anyone gathered in the royal palace’s arena, a room that hadn’t been used in decades, and watched what many would go on to say was not a true Agni Kai. Technically speaking, everything was within the rules; as royalty, Prince Zuko was exempt from the minimum age requirement, and it was within Fire Lord Ozai’s rights as the victor to brand the loser. However, while the traditional rules had remained unchanged, cultural norms had not. One of the audience members present that day, a young woman named Daiyu, the daughter of Lord Shin, recorded the duel and uploaded the video to the internet. While it was quickly taken down and suppressed by Fire Lord Ozai’s administration, it did little to stop the spread of the story, becoming what many consider to be the final nail in the coffin of public opinion towards Fire Lord Ozai.

Today, when the average citizen both within the Fire Nation and outside of it thinks about the ritual of the Agni Kai, it is that video that they think of first: one of the many reasons why the tradition is now nearly extinct, the numerous duels fought by Fire Lord Zuko being the exception.

* * *

**Exhibit 3: Excerpts from an interview between Historian Ren and Lady Daiyu**

**Ren:** How did you come to watch the Agni Kai?

**Daiyu** : My Father was one of Fire Lord Ozai’s loyal allies and the minister in charge of public relations, propaganda, I’d suppose you call it now. The important part was that he was high ranking enough to go the Agni Kai in the first place. I begged him to let me come along. There hadn’t been an Angi Kai in  _ decades _ . It was the thing to see. I was fifteen going on sixteen and I wanted to go so I could brag about it to my friends. Part of me definitely realized that I’d be watching something important. I just didn’t realize how important it would be.

**Ren:** Were you always planning on recording it?

**Daiyu:** Yes. I knew that the Fire Sages frowned on it. But I wanted to make history as a kid. To be just as great as I saw my father as being. Besides, I promised my friends that I would since they weren’t able to go.

**Ren:** What was it like at first?

**Daiyu:** I remember, when I first got there, it felt like I had traveled back in time. There’s still the historic Agni Kai arena in the old part of the palace and it hasn’t changed in centuries. Then the Fire Sage was speaking in all the traditional language and the Prince and Fire Lord were wearing what's been worn in Agni Kais since the first one that Agni fought. It really did all feel like I’d somehow stepped into the past. 

**Ren:** How about once the fight began?

**Daiyu:** I think that the simplest way to put it was that it felt like something was wrong. Even though we almost never fight them any more, I feel like we all still have this idea of what an Agni Kai should be in its most ideal form. I think seeing that Prince Zuko was going to have to fight the Fire Lord was the first thing that seemed wrong. And then the prince started begging and the Fire Lord smiled this cruel smile and-, well. It just went downhill from there. You know what happened. I had friends who were fire benders but that was the first time that I’d smelled flesh burning like  _ that _ .

**Ren:** Why did you decide to post the video?

**Daiyu:** I had no idea what to do with the video at first. I was never going to delete it, but part of me wanted to hide it away and never think about it again even though I knew it would be impossible. Then they announced his banishment, and all of my classmates were talking about how the prince was dishonorable and a coward. It just didn’t ring true to me. So, I posted the video because maybe the prince was a dishonorable coward, but that wasn’t what I’d seen that day. I wanted other people to see that too.  
  


* * *

**Exhibit 4: An internet meme**

“Average firebender fights 1 Agni Kai in their life" factoid actually just statistical error. Average firebender fights 0 Agni Kai’s in their life. Fire Lord Zuko, who radiates pure fight me energy & fought 3 Agni Kai’s before he even turned 17 is an outlier and shouldn’t be counted.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Remember kids, record your phone videos horizontally.


	2. The Moon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Various media related to Princess Yue, the girl who turned into the moon.

**Exhibit 1: Commentary on the rebirth of the Moon Spirit by Professor Chun Li of History at Ba Sing Se University**

We have pictures of the girl who turned into the moon. There’s something quite special about that. Princess Yue is not unique in her status of a human turned spirit, nor is the invasion of the North the first time that a spirit has died. However, her story is singular in its’ magnitude and proximity to the present day. The majority of people alive today still remember the day that the moon went red and died. We remember how the wrongness of that moment struck us to the core as well as the visceral sense of relief that came when the moon began to shine again. Unlike so many of the other stories, we know Princess Yue’s in a truly intimate way.

And so, unlike the dead who return to guard their homes after their deaths, and the humans go into the spirit world and emerge as something else, we have the desire to understand her story on a deeper level. We have pictures of her when she was still mortal and we have video of the moments before she underwent her transformation. We know the Moon in ways that previous generations did not. That is something that is very precious.

* * *

**Exhibit 2: A series of pictures of Princess Yue**

A picture of Princess Yue as an infant, taken at the hospital:

A baby lies on a hospital blanket, eyes closed, damp dark hair pressed against her head. There is a deathlike stillness apparent even in the photograph.

A Formal Portrait of Princess Yue, age 10:

Princess Yue sits next to her mother, wearing traditional, intricately beaded purple furs. Her father, Chief Arnook stands above them both, a hand on his daughter’s shoulder. Princess Yue is smiling faintly, even at a young age showing appropriate restraint. 

This is the last formal portrait of the entire family before her mother’s death.

A Formal Portrait of Princess Yue, age 16:

Princess Yue sits alone in this picture. Like the previous picture, she is wearing traditional furs though with a more mature cut. She is not smiling, instead gazing out at the viewer with eyes that seem to see deep inside of you. Her hair is styled intricately and seems to have an unnatural light to it. Around her neck is a betrothal necklace.

Four pictures of Princess Yue, Age 16, with Sokka, Age 15:

The pictures are on a strip of cheap photo paper, the type that photo booths at malls spit out. In all the pictures, Princess Yue is wearing an indigo hoodie with her hair pulled back in a messy ponytail. Sokka is wearing a worn, patched coat in the Southern style. Spots of acne can be seen on both of their faces. In the first picture, they both grin at the camera, Sokka making bunny ears over Princess Yue’s head. In the second, they are both making silly faces: Princess Yue’s tongue is sticking out and Sokka’s eyes are crossed. In the third, Princess Yue is laughing while Sokka pokes her. In the fourth, they pretend to kiss each other while making a heart shape with their hands.

* * *

**Exhibit 4: Footage of the rebirth of the moon spirit**

The camera is surprisingly steady in the chaos it records. At the center of its focus is Commander Zhao, holding the bag that contains the recently deceased Moon Spirit. The entire world is in black and white. In the back of the shot, a figure stands up. As she walks closer, it becomes clear that she is Princess Yue. Her hair disheveled and there are what appear to be bloodstains on her clothes. Her eyes are piercing blue, the only hint of color in the entire scene. A young man, Sokka of the Southern Water Tribe, reaches out to her but she brushes away his arm.

She walks forward with deliberate steps. Chaos falls into order as she approaches Zhao and takes the bag from his hands. He is too shocked to do anything to stop her.

[Princess Yue]: The moon spirit gave me life. It’s time for me to give it back.

She takes the corpse of the fish and lowers it gently into the pond at the center. As it touches the water, she begins to glow. For a split second color returns to the scene. Then, there is a brilliant flash of light and the video dissolves into static.

* * *

**Exhibit 5: Footage from the first moon landing**

There are a few seconds of grainy footage of the landing pod sitting on the moon’s surface. The astronauts can be heard discussing something from inside, however, most of the words can’t be made out. The door to the pod opens.

[Astronaut Lee]: Ready?

[Astronaut Sokka]: As ready as I’ll ever be.

Sokka, dressed in his spacesuit, emerges cautiously from the landing pod and begins his descent down the ladder. His steps begin slowly but they gain speed as he approaches the moon’s surface. The light seems to become just a bit brighter for every step down he takes. As he reaches the ground, his first step forward causes him to stumble a bit, but he catches his balance and stands still for a long moment, staring out over the surface of the moon.

[Astronaut Sokka]: (softly) Yue, it’s so good to see you again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love Yue, that is all.


	3. The Blue Spirit

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An article exploring what little is known about the figure known as the Blue Spirit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Originally published in the Avatar version of the Atlantic.

# Searching for the Blue Spirit

By Haru Lee

* * *

_[Image: A pair of crossed swords and a blue spirit mask lie against a black background. The mask is propped up against the swords, looking up and out at the viewer.]_

It is a beautiful fall day when I meet Dr. Han of Yu Dao university, leading expert on the Blue Spirit and author of the critically acclaimed book _Character, Criminal, or Folk Hero? The Many Masks of the Blue Spirit_. We exchange greetings and he leads me to his office, home to an impressively large collection of Blue Spirit paraphernalia. Besides the iconic mask, I also spot an annotated map of sightings, a poster for the new Blue Spirit musical, and an authentic-looking pair of Dao blades.

He offers me a cup of tea and we exchange small talk before I ask the question that’s brought me here in the first place: 

“Who do you think the Blue Spirit is?”

* * *

Twenty-five years ago, in the winter of ----, Avatar Aang was captured by Admiral Zhao and the Yu Yan sharpshooting unit. He was held in Pohaui Stronghold, a fortress largely thought to be impenetrable. Later in the night, a masked figure wielding dual dao infiltrated the fortress and free the avatar. Little security footage exists to identify them. The only feature witnesses testified to making out was the Blue Spirit mask covering their face. Even today, their true identity remains a mystery.

“Whoever the Blue Spirit is, they’re a master of stealth and infiltration,” Dr. Han says. “They clearly knew enough to infiltrate what was, at the time, one of the most secure Fire Nation fortresses in the world. And, well, just watch this footage.”

He shows me some of the security camera footage from that famous night. On-screen, the Blue Spirit darts through halls with impressive grace and stealth. Even with the striking signature mask, if I didn’t know what I was looking for, I’d probably miss them.

“That doesn’t answer your question though,” he adds with a laugh. “I do have some theories. We’ll never know for sure who they really are unless they come forward, but I feel like I have a pretty good idea on who they could be.”

The Blue Spirit is a traditional Fire Nation character, Dr. Han tells me. He originated in “Love Amongst the Dragons”, a 9th-century story that has remained a staple of literature ever since. It was adapted into an opera in the late 16th century during a flourishing of the arts under the reign of Fire Lord Anzu. About sixty years ago, it was adapted into a hit musical of the same name. The mask the Blue Spirit wears is drawn directly from that adaptation.

The role the Blue Spirit plays changes from adaptation to adaptation. In the original story, he was an oni warrior who fought for the Demon King and was slain by the Dragon Emperor. In the opera adaptation, his role was expanded so that after his defeat, he recognized the righteousness of the Dragon Emperor’s cause and joined him. The musical reimagined him as the Dragon Empress’s loyal warrior, loving her from afar even as he knew that his love was impossible. In all of these stories, though, the Blue Spirit’s core traits are his honor, loyalty, and duty. Which is why, Dr. Han says, that it’s so interesting that it was his mask chosen by the Avatar’s rescuer.

“Most people familiar with the story wouldn’t associate the type of person the Blue Spirit was with the type of person who helped the Avatar. Especially considering the levels of propaganda from the time and politicization of the _Love Amongst the Dragons_ musical, they’d think the exact opposite. In addition, if you look at the weapons they’re wielding, you can see that they’re dual dao, a traditional Earth Kingdom fighting style. It’s very interesting that someone would think to combine a Fire Nation character with those weapons when in the stories, the Blue Spirit has always fought with a naginata. Which brings us, in a roundabout way, to my theory.” Here, Dr. Han pauses.

“Yes?” I prompt.

“I think that the Blue Spirit came from one of the colonies. Pohaui Stronghold was in fact fairly close to the city of Xi Gang which was under Fire Nation control at the time. The Blue Spirit probably had strong ties to their Earth Kingdom heritage which would explain the fighting style. They would also be familiar with Fire Nation popular culture of the time which would account for why they chose that particular character. They were making the statement that the way of duty and honor lies with the Avatar.”

_[Image: Dr. Han stands in front of his desk. The walls behind him are decorated with all the Blue Spirit paraphernalia he’s collected throughout his studies.]_

After the humiliation of the infiltration of Pohaui Stronghold, the Fire Nation was on high alert, searching for any signs of the Blue Spirit. However, until a series of robberies perpetrated by a figure matching the description were reported in the northern Earth Kingdom, they had little luck. The Dai Li in Ba Sing Se also began to be on the lookout for someone with the same appearance who was noted to infiltrate their secret headquarters under Lake Lagoi and free the avatar’s flying bison. At the same time, people wearing the Blue Spirit mask began to commit acts of guerilla warfare and resistance against the Fire Nation as the story spread throughout the Earth Kingdom.

“It’s hard to know which, if any, of these stories can be attributed to the original Blue Spirit, and which are merely copycats. Some stories say that he drowned in Lake Lagoi, others that he’s still out there today, fighting for justice. He could have retired, he could have been killed. We just don’t know.”

* * *

During the war, the Blue Spirit mask was a symbol of resistance, a standard for those ready for a change from the war and the Fire Nation’s oppression. Today, it fills a variety of roles from folk hero and legend, to a rallying cry for the latest rounds of conflict in the former colonies. A new adaptation of _Love Amongst the Dragons_ , free from the propaganda that filled the original, is still running strong on Ember Island and in other Fire Nation territories. In the Earth Kingdom, _Blue Blades_ is a popular new spinoff musical that focuses both on the character from _Love Amongst the Dragons_ and the vigilante hero from the war, their narratives intertwined and united by the energetic and haunting music.

Novels, movies, and comics have all made their own interpretations of the Blue Spirit’s character, turning them into a figure of justice, freedom, and romance. The latest issue of the Blue Spirit comic sits in my son’s room at home, featuring the fight between the daring swordsman and a rouge combustion bender. The best selling novel _Swords in the Dark_ by Chuan Lee uses the Blue Spirit to explore the theme of duty versus freedom. _Spirits,_ a recent film directed by Rin Futa, reimagines the Blue Spirit as a young woman, hurt by the fire nation, whose escapades go beyond Pohaui Stronghold and whose rivalry with the banished prince is something both intimately intense and charged with sparks of something else.

In some ways, the mask seems to be the only common thread tying these stories together, a testimony to how wide the Blue Spirit’s influence has spread throughout our culture. Like so many myths of old, we’ve adopted the story, telling it again and again, and ultimately, making it our own.

* * *

Dr. Han isn’t the only person who’s interested in the identity of the Blue Spirit; there’s a thriving community of people online who devote an impressive amount of time and energy to uncovering as much as they can about this elusive figure. One of these people, who has asked to referred to by her online handle of swordbendingbi, agreed to talk with me one night about her theories.

“So, there are a few big theories out there, but the one I think is the most convincing is that this guy named Jet from Gaipan was the Blue Spirit,” she says once I ask her the same question I asked Dr. Han. “He and the Avatar did have a bit of a rocky relationship but they were undeniably on the same side in the end.”

Jet was known to wield dual swords, she tells me. Footage exists of him fighting, and while there are some key differences from the style the Blue Spirit used, the context of infiltration and trying to disguise his identity could account for that. He ran a guerilla warfare operation in Gaipan with other war orphans until the Fire Nation drove them out after what can only be described as a terrorist action was prevented by Sokka of the Southern Water Tribe.

“After that, it’s not super clear where he went, but Gaipan’s pretty close to Pohaui Stronghold. Jet hated the Fire Nation and he had experience in stealth. He could’ve grabbed a mask from a nearby town and broke in to free the Avatar. He was also seen in a lot of the same areas where there were Blue Spirit sightings throughout the Earth Kingdom. They found his body under Lake Lagoi after the Avatar’s flying bison was freed. And, well, after a while you start wondering just how many of these things could really be coincidences.”

“But they could just be coincidences.”

“Yeah,” she admits. “He’s dead, it’s not like we can ask him. But even his death is another point. Some of the stories say that the Blue Spirit drowned in Lake Lagoi. We know Jet died under there. If he isn’t the Blue Spirit, that’s still a lot of coincidences.”

Like the Blue Spirit, Jet was also hated by a large portion of the Fire Nation due to the aggressive campaign of guerilla warfare he and his band of Freedom Fighter’s carried out. Many of his measures put Earth Kingdom citizens at risk as well, which theorists speculate could account for the string of crimes accredited to the Blue Spirit in between the events at Pohaui Stronghold and Ba Sing Se. When it comes down to it, though, all the evidence for Jet being the Blue spirit is purely circumstantial, as compelling as some of it may be. Like most niche theories, there’s enough evidence to intrigue, but not enough to draw any real conclusions.

_[Image: Issue #35 of the Blue Spirit comic books, a hardcover version of Swords in the Dark , and a copy of the movie Spirits lined up against a black backdrop.]_

“What’s the craziest theory you’ve ever heard?” I ask towards the end of our conversation.

Swordbendingbi thinks for a minute before replying. “I heard one that Fire Lord Zuko was the Blue Spirit,” she says at last. “It’s kind of insane, but also weirdly compelling. Part of me wants to believe it for the heck of it. For one thing, the timeline lines up. His ship was noted to be docked near Pohaui stronghold at the time and he was in Ba Sing Se when the Blue Spirit freed the Avatar’s bison. And he goes to see _Love Amongst the Dragons_ every year with his mom so he’s probably a big fan of the character.”

“That is pretty out there,” I say.

“I know, but, well, Admiral Zhao had to have a reason for trying to assassinate Prince Zuko? What he suspected that he was the reason that he wasn’t able to keep the Avatar captured?”

“What about his motivation?”

“That’s the tricky part. With Pohaui Stronghold, he had to be the one to capture the Avatar to get home, so maybe he freed him to keep the option on the table. But Ba Sing Se? I have no idea why he would help the Avatar only to turn against him later. Like I said, it’s a little insane, but if it’s true, it’d sure be something, wouldn’t it?”

“It certainly would be,” I admit.

* * *

Whether the Blue Spirit is alive or dead, their influence certainly isn’t going away any time soon if the sheer number of blue spirit masks I see at the annual Fire Days festival is any indication. My son came home from school earlier this week and told me that he wants to be the Blue Spirit when he grows up and I noticed a new piece of graffiti on my way to work: a blue mask over crossed swords.

The legacy that the Blue Spirit has left behind grows larger every day with every act of protest against lingering injustices and every growing pain in this world relearning how to live in peace. They started by helping the avatar and they’ve helped the rest of us by us a symbol to stand behind, us a way to look at each other and say let’s make the world a better place. Each of every one of us can put on the mask and each and any one of us could be the person underneath it. In today’s world, we are all the Blue Spirit; we are all fighting for justice, for honor, and for peace.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And with that, I've posted the last of what I've written for this AU. Maybe I'll come back one day, probably not. I hope you enjoyed reading it :)


End file.
